


Odds of Improbability

by killabeez



Category: Highlander, Highlander: The Series, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Crossover, Ficlet, Future Fic, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-02
Updated: 2009-12-02
Packaged: 2017-10-04 02:30:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killabeez/pseuds/killabeez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a LiveJournal fic meme, for the unlikely prompts: Amanda, Jim Kirk, and baby fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Odds of Improbability

It's almost a week after they make planetfall that he sees her the first time, a bright flame amidst the dirty, exhausted refugees huddled in the ashes of a world destroyed. She's the first bright thing he's seen in days, and he can't help staring.

She looks up from the bundle in her arms, and he realizes it's a baby she's holding, that she's been trying to coax the child to eat protein mash from a spoon. The baby seems to be having none of it, and Kirk sympathizes. After the past few days, he never wants to look at the stuff again.

"Any luck?" he asks, mostly because he wants an excuse to talk to her.

She shakes her head, discouraged, but her expression doesn't warn him off, so he straddles the bench beside her. "He won't eat, and he won't sleep," she says, her voice light and sweet, oddly accented. "Any ideas? I'm afraid babies aren't my forté."

"That makes two of us, I'm afraid." The child's skin has a pale green cast and at the sight of the tiny pointed ears, Kirk thinks for a second that this is a hybrid, like Spock. Belatedly, he realizes it's probably not hers. An orphan, then, he thinks with a pang. "I'll can try," he hears himself saying, "if you think it'll help?"

"Would you?" She smiles in relief, and it's worth it, even when she holds the baby out and he finds himself with his arms full of its slight, warm weight and no idea what he's supposed to do next.

He has a moment of blind panic, but with her watching him, he doesn't dare give into it. It's just a baby, he tells himself sternly. How hard can it be?

"Shh," he says, feeling ridiculous as its little face twists up, and it starts to fuss. Do Vulcan babies cry? he wonders. He really doesn't want to find out -- not with her watching with that hopeful expression. He rocks the babe a little, trying to remember what Bones told him. "Shh, hey, it's all right," he says. "I've got you." Something about holding them tight, so they feel secure. He tries that, and the baby quiets.

"I think he likes you," she says, and gives him an encouraging smile. It makes her even more lovely. He feels better than he has in a week.

"No accounting for taste," he says. One tiny hand waves, and Kirk gives him a finger to hold on to. The grip is impressive. Despite everything, the baby seems healthy -- he kicks out strongly, and squirms. When he starts to fuss again, Kirk lets his guard fall without thinking and echoes the reassurance of his words with his thoughts.

"Not bad," the woman says, quiet and admiring, and Kirk blinks. He's lost a minute or two, he realizes; the baby is asleep. "You've got the touch."

"More like he does," Kirk counters. "Don't tell my Chief Medical Officer," he adds, meaning it. "I'll never hear the end of it."

She touches the delicate sweep of the baby's eyebrow, and the sidelong look she gives him this time says she's not easily impressed, but he just might stand a chance.

She says, "Your secret's safe with me."


End file.
